^ 



When Betty Saw 
The Pilgrims 



-BY- 



MARGARET HOWARD 



>5« 




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With a Tear In One Eye, We Will 

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^WHEN BETTY SAW 
THE PILGRIMS 



BY 
MARGARET HOWARD / 



/ 

Copyright 19*21, Eldrldge Entertainment Hoaae 



PUBLISHED BY 

ELDRIDGE ENTERTAINMENT HOUSE 

FRANKLIN^ OHIO DENVER, COLO. 



CAST OF CHARACTERS ^C\ P 



A Mother 
I Robert ) ^^^ ^i^ii^^^^ 

\ Betty \ 

r Six Pilgrim Men 

{: Six Pilgrim Women 

Three Pilgrim Girls 
Two Pilgrim Boys 
Three Dutch Women 
Two Dutch Children 
Two Indians 



SUGGESTIONS FOR PRODUCTION 



The tableaux may very easily be altered by omitting 
some or adding others, thus varying the length of the 
program. The number of characters also may be al- 
tered to suit the size of the platform. 

The Pilgrim women and girls should be dressed in 
gray or some sombre color, with white caps, fischus and 
aprons. The men should wear dark suits with knicker- 
bockers. The large white collars and cuffs may be cut 
from soft white cardboard and the buckles, at belt, 
knees and on the big black hats, may be made of card- 
board, covered with tinfoil. 

Suggestions for these and other costumes may be 
obtained from the book, **Costumes and Scenery for Am- 
ateurs,*' by Constance Mackay. 

©CI.D 59431 j 

•': ; DEC 19 1921 



When Betty Saw the Pilgrims 



Scene — The stage is divided by curtains of some 
dark material which may be drawn to reveal tableaux or 
scenes on the rear stage. To one side of the front stage 
are three chairs for the three main characters. Branches 
of trees and other greens may be used quite effectively 
as a background for the rear stage and also for general 
decorations. 

At the opening of the play the curtains are drawn. 
The Mother, Robert and Betty enter the front stage. 

Betty — Oh, Mother, I wish Sunday would hurry up 
and go away. There isn't anything to do on it. 

Robert — No, nothin' but get washed and dressed and 
go to Sunday School. 

Mother — But don't you like to go to Sunday School? 

Betty — Well, sometimes; but we always have to go 
whether we want to or not, and we have to sit so still 
and be so good. 

Mother — Did you ever hear about a little girl named 
Patience Brewster, I wonder, who lived a long, long time 
ago? 

Betty — Oh, no, Mother. Is it a story? Please, 
please tell us a story. (The children pull their mother 
into a chair and seat themselves in the chairs on eithef, 
side of her, looking at her eagerly.) 

Robert — Yes, Mother, do. 

Mother — All right. This little girl named Patience 
Brewster, lived with her father and mother in the north- 
ern part of England. She had a little sister named Fear 
and a brother, Jonathan. They wore queer-looking 
clothes, not at all like yours. Let us imagine that we can 
see them. 

3 



When Betty Saw the Pilgrims 



TABLEAU ONE 
(The curtains are opened, revealing a Pilgrim man 
and ivoman, one boy and tivo girls grouped as naturdlli/ 
as possible.) 

Betty — Oh, I can almost believe I see them. Aren't 
they funny and old-fashioned? What long skirts Pa- 
tience and Fear wore ! 

Robert — And look at all those buckles on that boy! 

(The curtains are drawn,) 

Mother — At that time there was only one church in 
England and everybody?- had to go to it. But Patience's 
father and mother didn't believe in it. However, when 
they didn't want to attend it, and wanted to worship God 
just as they pleased, the king told them they would be 
put in prison if they didnt' obey. When they heard that 
Patience's father and some other men decided to hold 
meetings in secret and they did for a while. Some- 
times they would meet in one place and sometimes in an- 
other, and several times the king's soldiers caught some 
of them and arrested them. So finally, Patience's father, 
who was called Elder Brewster, because he was an elder 
in the church, and these other men decided to go away 
from England to another country, Holland, where they 
could hold church just as they pleased. When they went 
there they began to call themselves Pilgrims, because a 
pilgrim is one who wanders around, and they knew they 
would have to wander about, away from their own 
homes. They stayed in Holland about ten years and 
were very happy there, but they began to be afraid that 
their children would speak Dutch like the children of 
Holland, and though the king had sent them away from 
England, they still loved it. Finally, someone suggested 
America. Now this was away back in 1620, and at that 
time there were only a few white people living in Amer- 
ica and there were lots of savage Indians, so it took a 
brave person to go there. But the Pilgrims decided to 
go, because they knew God would be with them and they 



When Betty Saw the Pilgrims 



could worship Him in any way they pleased and have as 
many kinds of churches as they wanted and no one could 
stop them. So, in July, 1620, a part of them left Hol- 
land. Their Dutch neighbors were very sorry to see them 
go, because they liked them. They gave them many gifts 
to take with them. But when one little Dutch girl 
brought a doll, the Pilgrim mother wouldn't take it be- 
cause she didn't want her little girl to have such a gaily 
dressed doll to play with. 

TABLEAU TWO 

(When the curtains are opened, a Pilgrim woman is 
revealed standing behind a table on which is a trunk or 
box that she is packing. To one side of her is her little 
girl, A Dutch girl enters and endeavors to give a Dutch 
doll to the Pilgrim child, ivho wishes to take it, but they 
are reproved by the ivoman. The curtains are drawn,) 

Mother — Part of the Pilgrims stayed behind, for 
there wasn't room enough for all of them in their ship. 
Those who were to stay behind and some of the Dutch 
people were at the harbor to tell them goodbye. Just be- 
fore they left, their pastor prayed the following prayer, 
asking God to protect them on their journey. 

TABLEAU THREE 
(All the Pilgrims are on the stage and are kneeling 
ivith bowed heads. To the left of the stage are grouped 
all five Dutch people, loho are standing. The pastor or 
Elder Breivster, delivers the following prayer : '7 charge 
you before God and His blessed angels, that you follotv 
me no farther than you have seen me follow the Lord 
Jesics Christ, The Lord has more truth yet to break forth 
out of His holy loord. I cannot sufficiently bewail the 
condition of the reformed churches, ivho are come to a 
period in religion, and will go at present no farther than 
the instruw.ents of their reformation, Luther and Cal- 
vin ^vere great and shining lights in their times, yet they 
penetrated, not into the whole counsel of God, I beseech 



When Betty Saiv the Pilgrims 



you, remember it — *tis an article of your church covenant 
— that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be 
made known to you from the written word of God. 
Amen/' After the prayer^ all rise. Two of the Pilgrims 
stay with the Dutch, while the others tearfully bid them 
farewell and leave the stage,) 

Mother — They went to England to get their ships, 
and on the sixth day of September, 1620, 102 of them left 
Plymouth in their ship, The Mayflower. The ocean voy- 
age was very rough. They didn't see land in America un- 
til the twenty-first of Novemi:er — ever two months. The 
Atlantic had not been crossed many tim.es then, and do 
you wonder that the children were frightened? (Betty 
and Robert shake their head^.) Just before they landed 
on the shore, they had a meeting in the cabin of their 
ship, and drew up a compact or agreement 'hat they 
would make such laws as they would need in the colony 
and that all would agree to be bound by those laws and 
obey them. T.et us see if we can't imagine those Pilgrim 
Fathers signing the compact, 

TABLEAU FOUR 

(Curtains opened. Three Pilgrim men are seated at 
a table while two stand nearby. One rises and reads the 
compact, which is as folloivs : ''In the name of God, amen. 
We, whose names are underivritten, the loyal subjects of 
our dread sovereign, King James, having undertaken, for 
the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, 
and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the 
first colony in the northern parts of Virgiia, do by these 
presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God 
and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves to- 
gether ito a civil body politic for our better ordering and 
preservation, and furtherance of the ends afoesaid; and 
by vitue thereof, to enact, constitute, and frame such just 
and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and of- 
fices, from time to time, as shall be thought most con- 
venient for the general good of the colony. Unto which 



When Betty Saw the Pilgrims 



we promise all due submission and obedience. In wit- 
ness whereof ive have hereunder subscribed our names at 
Cape Cod, the eleventh day of November in the year of 
the reign of our sovereign Lord, King James, of Eng- 
land, France and Ireland, Anno Domini, 1620 J' The 
reader seats himself, and all the men sign the compact, 
using a guill pen. Curtain,) 

Robert — And, was that their government? 

Mother — Yes, that was the way they decided to gov- 
ern themselves. You remember, I said it was in Novem- 
ber when they saw shore? Vv^ell, it was the bare, rough 
coast of Massachusetts that they saw, with the ocean on 
one side and the w^ilderness on the other. The weather 
was very cold and many of them were sick because of the 
long voyage. There were no houses to welcome them and 
they were afraid of the Indians, but these people were 
very brave. They hunted around the coast for a while, 
trying to find a good place to live, and finally they came 
to a place where they decided to land, v/hich was called 
Plymouth, after the place in England where they had 
been treated so kindly. When they got out of their 
boats, December 21, 1620; one of the women, Mary Chil- 
ton, stepped upon a large rock by the shore and said, 
laughingly, *'I will be the first woman to step foot in our 
new tow^n.'' And she was. This rock still is near the 
ocean and is called Plymouth Rock. Many people go 
there now to see the place where the Pilgrims landed. 
Then ail the company fell on their knees and thanked God 
for bringing them out of the perilous ocean, through all 
sorts of troubles, and had once more set their feet on the 
iinu ground. 

TABLEAU FIVE 

(The Pilgrims are all kneeling in devout attitude. 
They remain thus while a quartette sings ''The Landing 
of the Pilgrims'' by Frederick W, Root, or ''Faith of 
Our Fathers.'' Or, someone may recite "The Landing of 
the Pilgrims," hy Mrs. Hermans.) 



8 When Betty Saw the Pilgrims 

Mother — This was over three hundred years ago^ 
children, and people all over the United States each year 
celebrate the coming of these people to America and 
thank them for all they did. 

Betty — Well, and what did Patience do? Was she at 
Plymouth, too? 

Mother — No, she had stayed behind in Holland. But 
in the meantime she had had a little sister, named Love, 
who looked very much like her, and she was there. How- 
ever, she didn't have as good a time as you do. You see, 
the Pilgrim.s didn't think it v/as right to have a good 
time. They made the children sit for hours at a time, 
learning verses from the Bible. In fact, they didn't be- 
lieve in celebrating on Christmas Day. That is, most of 
them didn't. On Christmas, the governor took the men 
out to work as usual. Well, when he came home he 
found som.e of the children laughing and playing 'games 
in the street. The governor was very angry and made 
them stop playing, saying there should be no merry-mak- 
ing in the streets, and the children were afraid to play 
for a long time after that. 



TABLEAU SIX 

(The five Pilgrim children are laughing and flaying 
**Ring Around the Rosie/* or something similar. The 
governor enters and. angrily reproves them, shaking one 
of the children. They look frightened and run from the 
platform.) 

Robert — How did they get their houses built? 

Mother — Oh, each man built his own house, but it 
was very hard work, for the w^eather was so bad and so 
many people were sick. But they finally got their houses 
built and a church, too. You see, they didn't forget 
God. But they were afraid of Indians and when they 
went to church, they carried guns. In fact, even the 
minister carried a gun. 



Whe7i Betty Saiv the Pilgrims 



TABLEAU SEVEN 
(The entire Pilgrim group is seen passing in a pro- 
cession, three abreast. The men carry old-fashioned 
guns, and the vjomen, Bibles. The minister and the gov- 
ernor should lead and two or three men should bring up 
the rear.) 

Mother — When they got to church, they stacked 
their guns inside the door, so they could seize them 
quickly in case of an alarm being given. They went to 
church at about nine o'clock in the morning and stayed 
until nearly four. The services were very long, but if 
anyone went to sleep he was awakened by a man whose 
duty it was to see that no one went to sleep. This man 
had a long rod with a hard knob on one end and a squir- 
rel's tail on the other. He used the knob end for men and 
boys, but the squirrel tail end for ladies and older peo- 
ple. Children had to be very quiet on Sunday. They 
were forbidden to laugh or play, but Love and other good 
children did not quarrel about it. They liked Sunday and 
were glad to thank God for His kindness to them. 

Robert — But didn't the Indians bother them? 

Mother — Well, no, not very much at first, for there 
had been a dreadful disease among the neighboring In- 
dians several years before, and they were not strong 
enough to bother the Pilgrims. But one day an Indian, 
named Samoset, who knew a little English, came as mes- 
senger from his chief. 

TABLEAU EIGHT 
(The Pilgriyn men are discovered, talkhig in panto- 
mime, their guns being stacked nearby. The Indiayi, 
Samoset, appears. The men look alarmed and seize their 
guns, but are soon reassured when Samoset says, brok- 
enly^ ''Welcome, Englishmen!'') 

Mother — He was the messenger of Massasoit, the 
chief of a great tribe nearby. And one day soon after 



10 When Betty Saw the Pilgrims 



that, the chief, himself, came to see the Pilgrims and 
while he was there, a peace treaty was made between 
them, which was kept for over fifty years. 



TABLEAU NINE 

(A Pilgrim enters, conducting Massasoit and Samo- 
set The two Indians seat themselves on mats or cush- 
ion.s The Pilgrim, theii leaves and soon returns, conduct- 
ing the governor and other men. Upon their entrance, the 
Indians rise, and the governor kisses the chief's hand. 
The chief then presents a peace pipe, which is smoked by 
each of them. The governor finally produces the peace 
treaty which is signed, first by the chief who makes his 
sign, next by the governor.) 

Mother — Well, children, after this, the Pilgrims had 
many trials and troubles, but other people from England 
came to help them. And that first year, though they had 
had much trouble, after their harvest was gathered, they 
rejoiced together and thanked God for His mercy to 
them, thus beginning what we know as Thanksgiving 
Day. 



TABLEAU TEN 

(All of the Pilgrims and the two Indians are stand- 
ing, talking and rejoicing in pantomime. Pumpkins, 
corn and fruit should be used to lend the Thanksgiving 
atmosphere. They may be placed on a table toward the 
front, if desired. The children should be interested 
mxLinly in helping themselves to the fruit. During this 
scene, a quartette sings *' America, the Beautiful." 

Mother — Now, children, do you think we should 
thank our Pilgrim Fathers who came and made it pos- 
sible for us to live in this country happily and comfort- 
ably and believe in God, and worship Him as we please, 
without being disturbed? 



When Betty Saw the Pilgrims 



11 



Betty — Oh, yes, and Mother, I'm sorry I was 
naughty and fussed about Sunday, for I ought to be glad 
I'm not Patience Brewster, and that I'm living now in- 
stead of 1620. 

(Exeunt Mother, Betty and Robert) 




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